Angely Mondestin's blog

American microbiologist, Salvadore E. Luria wrote a book titled Life: The Unfinished Experiment. The book discusses various concepts in relation to science and the need to understand and approach it in an effective way. In the book Luria mainly focuses on the study of evolution and what can be attributed to it. He objectively approaches the process of evolution and praises the creation of life as an endless progression.

 

Ever since I was younger my sisters have always tried to convince me that I was adopted because I had so many ‘abnormalities’ as they would call it. I have an extremely short tongue that can barely extend over my teeth; two of my toes overlap, and to top it off I developed hand tremors a few weeks after I was born. There are various forms of tremors but the one that I have is called Tetany. Tetany is a condition that can be noted by severe muscle spasms.

When I was younger my Aunt Maggie would randomly get really depressed and irritable. I never understood why, but my mom always told me to just ignore it. As I grew older I started to notice that these ‘episodes’ would only occur around certain months of the year, particularly in the winter. I then observed some more unusual characteristics: she quickly gained a lot of weight, most of her free time was spent sleeping, and she became less involved in our family affairs. When she did get involved it was only to start unnecessary and petty fights. I couldn’t comprehend why she was acting so distant towards her own family. It was a known fact that she hated the winter along with the snow so when I was thirteen-years-old she moved from Newtown, Pennsylvania to West Palm Beach, Florida. After a year or so she was back in shape and her attitude was nothing but friendly. She no longer slept her days away, and even though she lived twenty-four hours away she still remained really close to us. I now know that what my Aunt Maggie was suffering from was seasonal affective disorder, but in order for me to fully understand what she was going through I must first understand the disorder itself. It is for this reason that I will be looking at the symptoms and causes in particular that are related to this disorder.

Is chocolate really as harmful as the world makes it out to be? I remember coming home one night after trick-or-treating and gazing into my huge pillowcase full of candy. I can vividly recall selfishly eating most of it all in one night and feeling incredibly ashamed and guilty that I had done so. My mom spitefully reproached me with all the horrible things that were going to happen to me if I continued to act so carelessly. Chocolate has attained such a negative reputation throughout the years, and it is often referred to as the devil’s candy. Unfortunately, not many people know that this sensuous and sinful candy actually produces beneficial health related results.